Just before the Italian twin-engine torpedo plane was discovered, the aircraft carrier Heilongjiang and three aircraft carriers of the Italian Navy, located 220 kilometers northwest of the Allied fleet, had already entered the headwind direction and began to release aircraft. "If nothing else, when the opponent's fleet enters a low altitude, our fleet can enter from a height of exactly 4,000 meters." Su Mo said as he looked at the planes on the deck that were taxiing and taking off. The time of take-off and formation of aircraft, as well as the time of entering the battlefield, can be calculated more accurately, after all, before entering the battlefield, the Italian sea-based aviation operated almost without interference. But when entering the battlefield, it is difficult to say the distribution of the enemy's interception forces. But it's not a big problem, after all, there are 140 planes of various types in this wave of attacks! In the face of the Allied interceptor force, which is already exhausted by the same amount of fuel and ammunition, there is a great chance to break through.

When the Italian Navy planes took off the formation and then flew to the southeast, the Allied aircraft group was happily and reassuringly fighting the formation of Italian torpedo planes that were breaking through the defense at low altitude! As pilots, they did not have as many as the higher-ups thought, as long as the captain allowed, everyone wanted to turn these extremely slow, and clumsy ducks with sheared wings into their own achievements, and when the British began to withdraw from the battlefield, many Allied pilots immediately began to descend in altitude to intercept these torpedo planes. And the Italian twin-engine torpedo planes, with torpedoes hanging at low altitudes, could only rely on formations and a few self-defense machine guns to fend off the attacks of the opposing side, and at low altitudes, it was difficult for them to even evade. Definitely the best target!

Allied fighter jets hovering in the air were constantly attacking each other like vultures. Bright yellow tongues of fire flew in the air, biting hard from time to time. And the Italian twin-engine torpedo machine could only barely resist by relying on the machine gun on the back and nose, and the thin barrage was not so much a defensive role as a symbol! But even so. Watching the comrades around him leave one by one, the entire aircraft formation still thought about the target and moved forward, and when it approached about 30 kilometers, the entire aircraft group began to disperse, looking for their respective targets! "They were so persistent that they rushed at our ships until they were shot down, even though they knew they would never be able to torpedo our ships." A German pilot who participated in the war commented.

The whole interception process was extremely tragic. In just over ten minutes, about half of the torpedo planes were destroyed, and the remaining planes were besieged by a large number of enemy aircraft. Although in the end they began to disperse their formation, allowing the pursuing enemy planes to be more dispersed. However, the self-defense capability of the torpedo formations, which had lost each other's cover, further decreased. It was only a matter of time before they were wiped out.

"There's still plenty of fuel, come here and help." Boeington couldn't stand it anymore, although he had come to Italy as a volunteer, initially to prove his ability and to pay more than three times more than his salary. After the order was given, only a handful of planes followed. Some because they don't want to continue taking risks. Others are simply running out of fuel. Eventually, only eight Foxbats, including Boeington, followed, becoming the last defenders of the Italian lightning strike force.

"Why did you all go down there?" Raeder, who watched the fleet around him fight in a pot of porridge at low altitude, couldn't help but squint his eyes and said, although he is a traditional officer, but because he has always been a strong advocate of aviation cruisers, he also has some understanding of the Air Force, at least he knows that a large number of aircraft groups are now located at low altitudes. It's not good for fleet air defense, in case the other side kills another wave of planes. What to do?

There is a way of blessing and misfortune, and sometimes what you worry about will happen. Just when the air defense of the Central Powers was exhausted, and a large number of aircraft were lured to low altitudes, a huge formation of 140 aircraft of various types of Italian sea-based aviation appeared in front of the eyes of the Allies! "It's amazing, the people who planned this attack are too powerful." Almost instantly, Raeder thought of the other party's purpose, not just relying on land-based aviation to consume the air defense of his own fleet, this idea is too simple, it is a personal idea, what is really terrible is the level of use of the opponent's aviation.

Initially, high-altitude fighters and bombers were used to exhaust their air defenses, reduce the number of aircraft on the defensive mission over the fleet, and at the same time keep the decks of aircraft carriers running at full capacity, reduce the total number of aircraft that can be released, and let the entire fleet fly so constantly that there is no time and space to prepare more aircraft. And it's just that most of these planes were attracted to low altitudes by the torpedo planes that came after them in the air battle! At this time, the combat altitude of these fighters is only about 1000, while the opponent enters at an altitude of about 3500 to 4000 meters! Let these planes climb more than 2,500 meters to intercept their opponents? Is this a joke?

But fortunately, because the height of the opponent's fleet is relatively high and the scale is very large, it is found that the distance is relatively far, so the Allied fleet still has the last chance to release a batch of aircraft to block the opponent's attack, a total of 5 aircraft carriers, and the number of aircraft finally released is only about 40! It's just a fraction of the other side, and as for the Allied planes that are happily playing gophers at low altitudes, they also abandon their low-altitude targets and start to climb to intercept them! The moment to decide this war has finally come!

"Break up the opponent's formation!" Major Buckman, who was in charge of interception, ordered decisively. Since it is impossible to stop all the opponent's planes, the best way to destroy the opponent's air attack is to destroy the opponent's formation, especially the torpedo plane, if the formation is destroyed and the fan-shaped lightning net cannot be played, then the hit rate will drop significantly, and for these warships, the lethality of 250KG bombs is still relatively limited, and the final word is torpedoes! So no matter what, the most correct way is to break up the formation first, and then concentrate fire on the torpedo machine! While the air force was struggling to intercept it, the German fleet on the sea was also changing, and one aircraft carrier after another began to disperse, and each aircraft carrier was surrounded by several escort warships. The outer escort warships formed a wheel-shaped air defense circle, which provided cover for the aircraft carriers in the center.

"Don't get entangled with the opposing fighters, attack their torpedo planes!" Under normal circumstances, there will be some fighters to entangle the opponent's fighters, and then pave the way for the defending forces behind to attack the opponent's attack aircraft, but this time, there are not many fighters that can be used to intercept, and there are only more than 20 aircraft that can reach the combat altitude in advance, and the remaining planes are either climbing or preparing to climb. Although the torpedo planes had to be lowered in altitude before they could release the torpedoes, it was already very close to the fleet, and according to the principle of the Allied Navy, this distance had to be intercepted by naval guns, and their own planes could only be out of the circle.

The Allied fighters, which had just arrived in place, were entangled by the fighters escorting the surrounding before they could even launch an attack, and more than 50 fighters formed a thick shield around the more than 80 attack planes. Small-scale attacks simply can't break up the opponent's formation. Even if you are lucky enough to rush over the defense and have no time to fire a point shot at the target, two fighters will appear behind you dangling behind the butt.

When the small-scale assault of carrier-based aircraft could not make a contribution, the twin-engine fighters that had just arrived on the battlefield became the last straw for the Allied fleet. The height of this unit is moderate, and its firepower is fierce, and its skin is thick and thick-skinned, making it very suitable as a pig fighter fighter. They stabbed straight at the attack aircraft group like a sharp sword against the fierce artillery fire of the Italian fighters, in the era when the power of a single engine was not enough, the twin-engine aircraft had an advantage in terms of speed, because to protect the attack aircraft behind them, the fighters could not give full play to their flexible maneuverability, and were forced to collide with the attack aircraft group, and you want to go around to the other side at 6 o'clock and kick his ass fiercely? Of course, you can, but only if you're fast enough to catch up with each other after hovering! More often than not, Italian fighters had to choose to fire head-on, a situation that was not suitable for a single-engine aircraft. The only good thing though, is that the Italians have enough fighters! And they don't have to delay for too long, the other party's fleet is right in front of them!

COUNTLESS TONGUES OF FIRE INTERTWINED IN THE AIR, AND THE ITALIAN PILOT TRIED HIS BEST TO AVOID THE 4 DEADLY 4 20MM MACHINE GUNS IN FRONT OF THE OPPONENT, AND CHOSE TO RUSH TOWARDS THE TARGET FROM A SLIGHTLY HIGHER SIDE, WHERE ONLY A 13MM MACHINE GUN WITH A LIMITED FIRING RANGE COULD BE DEFENDED, BUT THE OTHER PARTY STILL EXPLAINED TOO MUCH, IT IS DIFFICULT TO COMPLETELY DESTROY A TWIN-ENGINE FIGHTER IN A SINGLE ENGAGEMENT BY RELYING SOLELY ON A 20MM CANNON AND 2 12.7MM MACHINE GUNS OF AN ORDINARY FIGHTER, UNLESS IT HITS THE COCKPIT (AND AVOIDS THE ARMOR NEAR THE COCKPIT!). Or destroy an engine, or the twin-engine planes with bullet holes will always rush through, and even more annoyingly, the German fighter units, which had been fighting whackles at low altitudes, gradually climbed to interception altitude to come to the rescue.

Almost every minute, several planes were smashed into pieces by flying shells in the air, both sides were fighting, the Italians moved forward bravely, the escort fighters used their thin bodies to block the huge twin-engine fighters and more and more carrier-based aircraft, and the Allies were not afraid of the other side's spewed fire net, relying on cooperation and strong bodies to break through the opponent's blockade and kill it, the two courtesies of a twin-engine aircraft were destroyed almost at the same time, the flames instantly spread from the wings, and in just a few seconds, the whole plane completely disintegrated, His teammate was lucky enough to rush over to block the line and shoot a torpedo plane into a flaming fireball, but he only had one chance to attack, as the Italian fighter appeared behind him.

Thank you for the reward of zhouyu1976~~~, there is a more ~~~ this afternoon. Ask for subscription and support~~~. (To be continued......)